For establishing taps to cables such as heavily jacketed cables having a plurality of conductors for transmission of electrical power, especially direct current power, or transmission of both power and signals, it is desired to provide a connector that is easily appliable to the cable with only standard tools, at a point of the cable remote from an end thereof.
It is further desired to provide a connector that may be applied after the cable has been routed through a premises.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,801 issued Jan. 6, 1998 and assigned to the assignee hereof, a connector is disclosed that is applied to a cable and includes an actuator on one connector portion that is of a type rotatable by use of a wrench to urge one connector portion toward and against the other cable portion containing the contacts, the cable being nested therebetween, to urge ends of bifurcated contacts into the cable outer jacket such that respective conductors of the cable are received into slots between the contact beams where beam edges compress against the conductor to establish electrical connections between the contacts and the respective conductors; a mating face of the connector allows mating with another connector to establish subsequent electrical connections such as to a tap cable.